Water Polo Day 8 Review: Hungary extends golden tally to nine

(BEIJING, August 24) -- Hungary won a third consecutive Olympic gold medal to take their tally to nine Games titles by beating the US 14-10 in the Men's Water Polo final at the Yingdong Natatorium on Sunday, August 24.

Classification 9th-10th

Italy 10 vs Germany 8

Italy and Germany played an uninspired ninth-place match. Italian Alessandro Calcaterra scored five goals for the day, finishing as the tournament's top shooter with 27 goals. Calcaterra contributed more than a quarter of the Italian goals.

Classification 7th-8th

Greece 9 vs Australia 8

Greece, needing a top-three finish to gain entry to the 2009 Rome FINA World Championships, had to settle for seventh place with an upset victory over the Australians who lost three games - all by one goal. Georgios Ntoskas, Greece's highest scorer with 20 goals, was kept scoreless with his two penalty attempts blocked by Australian goalkeeper James Stanton.

Classification 5th-6th

Spain 11 vs Croatia 9

Spain blew away world champions Croatia to lead 11-6 in the final quarter before allowing Croatia to finish with a flourish. Croatia had led 2-0 at the quarter but it was level 5-5 by half-time with Spain holding an 8-6 lead at the final break.

Bronze medal match

Serbia 6 vs Montenegro 4

Serbia, playing without the injured scoring machine Aleksandar Sapic and goalkeeper Denis Sefik, controlled the match from the start and romped to 6-1 midway through the third period. The Serbian scoring stopped as Montenegro clawed their way back into the game but could not produce enough to win and Serbia won the bronze medal.

Gold medal match

Hungary 14 vs US 10

Hungary beat off a stern challenge from the US team to win their ninth title with six players experiencing Olympic victory for the third time. The opening quarter threw up 10 goals and by half-time Hungary led 9-8. The margin moved to two at the final break and then 14-9 in the final period before US fired in their 10th goal too late to realize their Olympic dreams.